The government on Wednesday announced a series of concessions for Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinees following nationwide protests over the continuation of examinations during floods and widespread waterlogging, including allowing students who missed exams because of adverse weather to sit for them later.
The measures, announced by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s Adviser on Education and Primary and Mass Education, Mahdi Amin, came a day after students blocked roads, besieged education boards and demanded fresh examinations and the resignation of the education minister.
In a statement outlining what he described as five student-friendly measures, Mahdi Amin said candidates who were unable to attend any HSC or equivalent examination because of floods, transport disruptions or other unavoidable reasons would be given another opportunity to sit for the missed papers.
Those candidates will take the examinations on the same dates and times scheduled for the postponed Chittagong Education Board examinations, using the same question papers.
The government also announced that all candidates would receive full marks for two erroneous questions in the Physics First Paper examination, while officials responsible for preparing the flawed question paper have been suspended.
Mahdi Amin said examinations were held peacefully on Wednesday at 2,583 centres across the country except under the Chittagong Education Board, where examinations remain postponed because of the flood situation.
He said the decision to continue examinations elsewhere was taken after consultations with divisional commissioners, deputy commissioners, police, education board chairpersons, meteorologists and other stakeholders, with priority given to the interests of the majority of candidates.
The adviser added that local administrations had been authorised to relocate examination centres, postpone examinations or extend examination time wherever transport disruptions, flooding or waterlogging prevented students from reaching venues safely.
The announcements came after two days of nationwide demonstrations by HSC candidates, who demanded the suspension of examinations during the flood emergency, re-examinations for those affected, correction of errors in the Physics paper and safeguards to ensure no student was disadvantaged by the disaster.
Describing the HSC examination as a critical milestone in shaping the country’s future, Mahdi Amin said ensuring students’ welfare and protecting the continuity of education remained among the government’s highest priorities.